1999

steel
50m x 12m x 20m1999
Leichhardt, Sydney

The Charles Street Bridge design is a unique opportunity to punctuate the journey between Black Wattle Bay and Five Dock with a sculptural structure. Richard Goodwin has designed an 40m suspension bridge, which is enhanced by the use of fluid form curvilinear surrounding trusses. The net effect is a sinewy arm with a distinctive asymmetrically quality. It could become a defining marker on the journey west. It also serves as an indicator to the public that the freeway can be the location of design excellence. The client was the RTA.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT: I have chosen to move the site of public art from the spaces between buildings to the very skin of architecture. The works operate as a means of transfer between the public and private. Architecture is the armature for public art which has function. Similarly the project of art in relation to freeways is the art of attachment. The prosthetic forms under the freeway at Pyrmont are one example of my work in this territory as are the sound wall projects. On a more ambitious level I have chosen the bridge as a site for the sculpture of attachment – in this case to the architecture of the freeway. The Charles Street Pedestrian Bridge is a unique opportunity to create a one off artwork with a particular and necessary urban function. The structure comprises the principals of suspension and cantilever. Its drama is accentuated by the use of flowing organic curves and intersecting truss lines.

Steel
50m x 12m x 20m
Leichhardt, Sydney